Apparatus for registering sheets



June 5 1951 H. "r. BACKHOUSE 2,555,913

APPARATUS FOR mzcxswsxmc SHEETS Filed Aug. 14, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 June 5, 1951 H. 1'. BACKHOUSE APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING SHEETS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 14, 1947 Patented June 5, 1951 APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING SHEETS Headley Townsend Backhouse, Wentworth, England Application August 14, 1947, Serial No. 768,524 In Great Britain April 1, 1943 4 Claims.

This invention comprises improvements in or relating to apparatus for registering sheets being fed to printing presses or other machines.

The invention is mainly concerned with sidelay registration of the sheets by mechanism comprising a drawbar which is located at the upper surface of the layboard or other sheet supporting board and is movable laterally below a sheet positioned at the front lays, and a drop-roller arranged to be spring-pressed into contact with the upper surface of the sheet immediately over the draw-bar so as to provide a nip between the roller and the bar at which the sheet is gripped and so moved with the bar up to a registering gauge. With the above mechanism there is no bodily lateral movement of the drop-roller; the axis of the roller remains stationary while contact between the roller and the sheet is maintained. In another form of sidelay'registering mechanism top pressure is applied to the sheet by means of a gripper arranged to move bodily to and fro in a lateral direction with the draw-bar and in that case the gripper need not be in the form of a roller. The present invention is applicable to either of the above forms of sidelay registration mechanism, both of which will hereinafter be referred to generically as sidelay registration mechanism of the type described.

Usually in mechanism of the type described the draw-bar, which is let into the surface of the layboard, extends across the whole width of the latter and the top pressure member and associated sidelay or gauge is a separate unit adjustable acrcss the layboard so as to accommodate sheets of different width, the top pressure member co-operating with different positions in the length of the draw-bar depending on the particular setting of the member across with width of the board.

The present invention provides sidelay regis tration mechanism of the type described in which the top pressure member, whether a drop-roller or a gripper member mounted for bodily lateral movement with the draw-bar, the registering gauge, and a comparatively short length drawbar in the form of a thin flexible blade-like element, for example of spring steel, are built up with a base-plate adapted to rest on the sheet supporting board, as a self-contained structure adiustable bodily as a unit in a direction across the width of the layboard, and if desired also in the direction of its length. With this construction the draw-bar need only be sufficiently long to provide a nip between the top pressure member and the bar and where the top pressure member is a conventional drop-roller, to maintain the nip between the roller and the bar for such time as is necessary to draw the sheet up to the lay. The base-plate is according to a feature'of the invention provided with a shallow groove in which the draw-blade is accommodated for movement with the upper surface of the blade substantially flush with the upper surface of the base-plate. Preferably the unit also embodies a smoother arranged to be raised and lowered in timed relationship with the corresponding movements of the'drop-roller or other top pressure member.

The foregoing and other features of the invention (some of which relate in particular to the operation of a drop-roller and smoother); are embodied in an arrangement of side-lay registration mechanism which will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings which are to some extent diagrammatic and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the sidelay mechanism,

Figure 2 shows details of the sidelay mechanism which are hidden fromv view in Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a view from the back showing an alternative arrangement to the arrangement shown in Figures 1 and 2, and

Figure 4 is a perspective view from the back, showing the unit illustrated in Figure 3 in pr sition on a front plate.

In the construction shown in Figures 1 and 2 a square bar IOI, has pinned to it a lever I02, and is caused to oscillate in a tube I04 by movement of a chain (or rod) II3. A collar I05 is slidably mounted on the bar I0 I, and has a downwardly extended arm I06, which passes through a longitudinal slot out in the bottom of the tube I534. The end of the arm I 06 engages one arm of a bell-crank lever I01 through the medium of a joint I08. The lever is pivoted from a stud I09, and the other arm of the lever has a roller IIO running on stud I I I mounted at its end and a further extension of the arm provides a bearing for a pivot H2 mounted in link H3, the other end of the link engaging a pivot 4, which is fixed to an undertongue or draw bar H5. It will be seen from the above that oscillation of lever I532 will provide a reciprocating motion to the undertongue H5, which works in a groove cut in a plate or board I40. A lever I I6 is pivoted from stud Ill and carries a roller IIB constituting the presser member. A cam plate I I9, is mounted on the lever H8, and is positioned above roller IIO.

3 One end of the plate H9 is formed to engage a catch I20, pivoting from stud IZI fixed to the body bracket I22. The lever H6 is urged downwards (i. e. to bring the roller IIB into'engagement with the undertongue) by a spring I23 on spring rod I which engages a pivot pin I25 at one end, the other end of the rod passing through an adjusting nut I26, which is screwed into the bracket I22 and which provides a reaction abutment for the spring. The roller end of lever IIS has an extension which houses a a spring rod I2? and forms an abutment for the Spring I28 and the adjusting nut I29. The rod I2? is pivoted at its lower end from a pin I30 mounted in the smoother plate I3I. The plate I3I has two arms I32 and I33, which project behind a gauge bar I3 5, and are pivoted from pins I mounted in two blocks I35 attached to the bar. The plate has a hole cut in it to allow passage of the roller H8, and an upward extension'of arm I33 is arranged to abut against adjusting screw I8! mounted in the body bracket I22. The gauge bar I34 is pivoted from a stud I38, a spring-washer I39 keeping it in close contact with the base plate I40. Angular adjustment for the bar is provided by an eccentric sleeve IIII, mounted on a stud I42, which is fixed in plate I 30. A clamping nut I53 secures the gauge bar in position after adjustment. The body bracket I22 is slidably mounted on the tube I63, and can be clamped to this tube by means of screw M4. Fine adjustment is provided for the position of the sidelay by the screw I and nut I46 mounted in the clamp I41, which is'slidably mounted on tube I04, and clamped to this tube by screw I48.

. The sidelay functions as follows, and as a starting point it will be assumed that the position is that shown in Figure 1, i. e. the lever I0? is at the limit of its forward stroke with the cam II9 resting on the roller I I6, the catch I20 unlatched from the cam H9, and the roller H8 with its smoother plate I31 slightly raised above the sheet which is about to be sidelayed. The lever I0'I,'

after reaching the limit of its forward idle stroke reverses and makes a return working stroke moving the undertongue II5 towards the gauge bar I34. The cam I I0 contacting the roller III), is allowed to fall carrying with it the lever I i6 and the roller H8, and also the smoother plate I3I. This plate is adjusted to be slightly in advance of the roller I It, so that the latter does not project below the plate until the plate is stopped in its downward travel by the screw I37. Thereafter the roller 8- passes through the hole in the plate until it contacts the sheet and presses it against the moving undertongue H5. The pressure on roller H8 is adjusted by the nut I25 to suit the paperor material being worked and is such that when the edge of the sheet reaches the gauge bar I34, and offers increased resistance to movement the undertongue may slip on the sheet and the roller will cease to rotate. The grip on the sheet is such that the sheet is not buckled against the gauge bar. Toward the end of the pulling stroke'of the lever I01, the roller I is contacts the rear incline of the cam. I I9, lifting the roller H8, lever H6 and the smoother plate I3I clear of the sheet, and allowing the catch I20 to latch into position; thus, when the lever I07 makes its idle forward stroke, these parts will be prevented from coming down on the sheet. At the end of the forward stroke of the lever I07, the catch I20 is unlatched by the roller I II]. The cam ..|I0 then falls'on' to the roller H0 ready 4 for the operation of sidelaying the followin sheet. 7

Figure 3 shows an alternative method of supporting the sidelay above the layboard by utilizing an angle section bar m ld, in place of the tube I04 shown in Figure 1. This arrangement has the advantage that it more positively locates the sidelay mechanism in relation to the layboard. It also has the advantage that it permits a limited degree of vertical adjustment of the unit to enable the base plate to seat upon the sheet sup porting'board irrespective of any slight variations there may be on the level thereof CJI It is an advantage of the construction described above that the side registration of the sheets may be effected nearer to the front of the layboard than is possible with the usual mechanism.

It will be appreciated that the whole mechanism comprising the base plate, the side registering gauge, the draw-blade or bar, the droproller, the smoother and their actuating parts is built up as a self-contained unit which rests upon the layboard or front plate and is bodily adjustable across the width of the machine without modification of the surface of the layboard. With such a construction it is only necessary that the draw-blade should be sufficiently long to ensure maintenance of the nip between the drop-roller and the blade for a time necessary to effect movement of the sheet up to the gauge. It will also be appreciated that on account of the unitary construction of the sidelay mechanism, provision may readily be made for adjusting the position of the unit fore and aft in the length of the layboard, such adjustment being desirable in certain cases. One way of providing for such fore and aft adjustment is shown in Figure 4, two brackets I50 '(only one is shown) support the bar I04a at opposite sides of the layboard and is adjustably held by bolts I5I in slots I52. The wire or rod I03 is attached to the arm II2 by a hook-plate I53 providing, within example, six positions of adjustment by hooking any one of. the notches I5 1 over the pin I55.

On account of the fact that the pressureof the drop-roller is transmitted, through the draw-,- blade, to the same comparatively small area of the base-plate, there may be a tendency for undue wear to take place at that area. In order to avoid or minimise such a condition a special wear-resisting element, for example of Phosphor bronze, may be inserted into the base plate atneed not be in the form of a roller.

I claim:

1. sidelay registration mechanism for a sheet- 7 feeding machine and comprising as a unit, a sideregistering gauge, a base-plate adapted to rest upon the surface of a sheet-supporting board or plate associated with front-lays, a draw-bar located 'at the upper surface of the base-plate with its length extending perpendicularly to the side-registering gauge and reciprocable in the d1".

rection of its length below each sheet on the board in turn when the sheet is positioned at the front-lays, a top pressure member "above the draw-bar and adapted to grip the sheet against the bar to cause the sheet to be moved by the bar, during the movement of the bar in one direction, up to the side-registering gauge, means for imparting reciprocal movements to the drawbar and rising and falling movements to the pressure member in such timed relation that the pressure member is lowered on to the bar during the movement to draw the sheet up to the side-registering gauge and is then raised therefrom, a latch to hold the pressure member raised from the bar during the return, idle, stroke thereof, and means for releasing the latch near the end of the idle stroke to permit the lowering of the pressure member on to the bar during the next operative stroke.

2. Sidelay registration mechanism for a sheetfeeding machine and comprising as a unit, a side-registering gauge, a base-plate adapted to rest upon the surface of a sheet-supporting board or plate associated with front-lays, a drawbar located at the upper surface of the base plate with its length extending perpendicularly to the side-registering gauge and reciprocable in the direction of its length below each sheet on the board in turn when the sheet is positioned at the front-lays, a top pressure member above the draw-bar and adapted to grip the sheet against the bar to cause the sheet to be moved by the bar, during the movement of the bar in one direction up to the side-registering gauge, means for imparting reciprocal movement to the drawbar and rising and falling movements to the pressure member in such timed relation that the pressure member is lowered on to the bar during the movement to draw the sheet up to the sideregistering gauge and is then raised therefrom, a latch to hold the pressure member raised from the bar during the return, idle, stroke thereof, means for releasing the latch near the end of the idle stroke, and cam means arranged to take control of the pressure member when the member has been released by the latch, to hold the member away from the draw-bar until the draw-bar has begun its working stroke and then to allow the pressure member to move into sheetgripping relation with the draw-bar.

3. Sidelay registration mechanism for a sheetfeeding machine and comprising as a unit, a sideregistering gauge, a base-plate adapted to rest upon the surface of a sheet-supporting board or plate associated with front-lays, a draw-bar located at the upper surface of the base plate with its length extending perpendicularly to the side-registering gauge and reciprocable in the direction of its length below each sheet on the board in turn when the sheet is positioned at the front-lays, a top pressure member above the draw-bar and adapted to grip the sheet against the bar to cause the sheet to be moved by the bar, during the movement of the bar in one direction, up to the side-registering gauge, means for imparting reciprocal movement to the bar and rising and falling movements to the pressure member in timed relationship with the arrival of the sheet at the front-lays to grip each sheet in turn between the pressure member and the bar and thereby to move the sheet to the side registering gauge, then to release the sheet and to return idly to the initial position, a hinged smoother plate, a resilient operative connection between the pressure member and the smoother plate whereby the latter is caused to rise and fall about its pivot with the pressure member and a stop limiting the downward movement of the smoother plate to the smoothing position but arranged to permit continued downward movement of the pressure member to contact the bar, by virtue of the resilience of the connection.

4. Sidelay mechanism as claimed in claim 3 in which the resilient relative movement of the smoother plate and the pressure member is limited and in which the stop is adjustable to a position in which the downward movement of the smoother plate is arrested before the pressure member, at the limit of its advance beyond the smoother plate, can engage the bar.

HEADLEY TOWNSEND BACKHOUSE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 936,027 Parker Oct. 5, 1909 1,040,168 Dexter et al Oct. 1, 1912 1,085,345 La Sor Jan. 27, 1914 1,404,376 Christophel et a1. Jan. 24, 1922 2,165,172 Backhouse 1, July 4, 1939 

